Bullseye Music/WTF Music VenturesSoul legend Sam Moore recently released a new studio album titled An American Patriot, which celebrates his love of the U.S. Partly inspired by the rousing rendition of “American the Beautiful” that Moore performed at President Trump‘s inauguration in January, the album features a selection of patriotic standards, some new tunes and covers of Marvin Gaye‘s “What’s Going On” and John Lennon‘s “Imagine.”

While Moore has recorded arguably some of the most memorable soul tunes in pop-music history, he tells ABC Radio that the new album “is the finest work I think I’ve ever done.”

Moore says the driving force behind the album was his producer, Rudy Perez, who, along with Sam’s wife/manager Joy, chose most of the songs on An American Patriot. The “Soul Man” admits that he initially was skeptical about some of the songs Perez suggested, but he soon learned to trust the producer’s judgment.

“[Rudy is the] first person I know that tells me, ‘I know your voice better than you,'” Sam reports, adding that he thinks Perez is a “genius.”

Moore says that concept behind the album was, at this divisive time in U.S. history, to encourage people from both sides of the political spectrum to overcome their differences and celebrate the country. Sam maintains that that’s why he decided to record “What’s Going On.”

“It fits well today, the way we feel and we treat each other,” Moore maintains. “I’ve never in my life seen so much hatred because of you disagree with me about…nothing!…It’s stupid, and if you listen to the words of this thing, man, it tells you, ‘Come on, what’s going on? Stop this.'”